morning stroll

We got up early today, well, early for us since it was garbage day and it has to be out by 7:30 to get picked up. It was 70 degrees out already, so we sat on the porch relaxing after breakfast, and Vince says "I think you have another peony blooming out there" meaning across the creek. I couldn't see it from where I was sitting, so I decided to walk over there and check it out. I grabbed the camera because you never know what you are going to see or find. When I got over there, I realized it was the rhododendron! It has never bloomed in the 10 years it has been there because the deer usually eat it. The plant itself looked pretty bad due to the hard winter and the frost we just had, but the blossom it has is beautiful. After I took the pictures of that, I just stood there and looked around. There were so many things that caught my eye, I just kept taking pictures.

This was my morning stroll, May 27th. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

red twig dogwood. You can see a spider web on the the lower left hand side!

indian paintbrush

fancy petunia that I put in a flower box

this little spider is on an iris petal

buttercup

Dennis Moore, Dennis Moore, riding through the night; give me all your lupines! (If you are a Monty Python fan, you'll get this). I don't think I even knew what a lupine was when I first saw that sketch! Now they are one of my favorite flowers. They were one of the first flowers I grew from seed when I first got married and had a new house and flowerbeds to fill. I transplanted a bunch of them when we moved and they have been re-seeding themselves all over the place ever since!

When I got back over to the porch, Vince laughingly said "You should take a picture of a dandelion" and I said "I did!"
I've always loved dandelions, even when I was a kid. They are the first flowers we pick for our moms when we are little-I'm still disappointed that you can't pick them and put them in a vase!!  You can play a game with your friends to see who can flick the head off with their thumb the farthest. They are so bright and cheerful, and you can make a wish with them. They are one of the first flowers to emerge after winter- that should make anyone happy! The bunnies love to munch on them, biting them off at the bottom and chomping their way up the stem and finishing their snack with the flower. The finches eat the seeds, and the flying fluffy parachutes are like little fairies floating on the breeze. When we drive by a field that is a solid yellow mass of dandelions I can't help but wonder how anyone can hate them. And I kind of admire the way they seem to avoid the lawn mower blades and pop back up. I don't make dandelion salads or tea or wine, but it is great that they can be used that way. To me, they are beautiful. Well.... until there is one growing right in the middle of one of my perennials or the veggie garden!